Background: The Nazi Party depended heavily on speakers to get its message across. Those speakers needed to be informed. The following is a translation of instructions to speakers in October 1942, when the tide at Stalingrad was turning, ordering speakers to combat rumors that Germany and the USSR were nearing an armistice agreement. The material was labeled “Very Confidential!,” although there was not all that much secret in it.
The source: Redner-Schnellinformation, Lieferung 42, 23 October 1942.
In recent days the rumor has been spreading that Germany and the Soviet Union are nearing an armistice agreement. The rumor is nourished by supposed notations on leave papers, which some who spread this rumor claim to have seen.
These rumors lack any foundation. They are the result of malevolent enemy propaganda that speakers must combat in meetings, in particular everywhere that the meeting chairman reports the rumor is circulating.
There is no question that the Soviet Union has understood that this is a battle for existence itself. The continuing hardness of the battle in the East is the best proof of this. The Bolshevik will lay down his weapons only when he is defeated.
There may be no illusionary statements in this matter, and it is to be remembered that it is absolutely forbidden to make predictions about the end of the war.
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